All About Coffee, William H. Ukers [short story to read .txt] 📗
- Author: William H. Ukers
- Performer: -
Book online «All About Coffee, William H. Ukers [short story to read .txt] 📗». Author William H. Ukers
The factory includes a water-power plant delivering, through an American water wheel and by cable, 250 horse-power to the main shafting, an auxiliary steam plant of 150 horse-power as a reserve, a rubber mill, a coffee mill, three sisal-stripping machines, smoke-houses, drying fields and houses for sisal, drying floors and houses for coffee, sorting rooms, blacksmith shop, machine shop, brass-fitting foundry, packing houses, warehouses, and other equipment. The factory is in charge of a first assistant, who is a machinist, with a European staff consisting of a machinist and an apprentice assistant.
The chief garden assistant is paid 350 to 400 florins, and the garden assistants start at 200 florins per month, with graduated yearly increases up to 300 florins per month (florin=$0.40). The chief factory assistant receives 300 florins, and the machinist and bookkeeper 250 florins each.
The mandoer in charge of the air and kiln drying of coffee gets 25 florins per month, and the mandoer at the coffee mill 20 florins. A woman mandoer in charge of the coffee sorters receives 0.50 florin per day and 0.01 florin each for sewing the bags. This woman supervises all the sorters, fixes their status, and inspects their work. Unskilled labor (male) receives 0.40 florin per day in the coffee sheds, and the women sorters are paid 0.50 florin per picul of 136 pounds, measured before sorting. These women are graded into three classes—those who can sort 1 picul in a day, those who can sort three-fourths of a picul, and those who can sort but one-half of a picul in a day. Some of these women become very expert in sorting, and the quality of the output of a factory is largely dependent on an ample supply of expert sorters. Many years are required to develop an adequate personnel for this department.
THE WORLD'S COFFEE TOWER COMPARED WITH THE EIFFEL AND WOOLWORTH TOWERS THE WORLD'S COFFEE TOWER COMPARED WITH THE EIFFEL AND WOOLWORTH TOWERS
The Woolworth Building, the world's loftiest office structure is 792 feet high from street to top of tower; its main section of 151 by 196 feet stretches up 386 feet, and its volume equals a total of 13,110,942 cubic feet. But a tower made of the year's supply of bags of green coffee (132 pounds each) would equal 73,649,115 cubic feet, or nearly six times the bulk of the Woolworth Building. In the same proportions it would rise 1,386 feet, with the lower section 260 by 340 feet and 670 feet high. Its dimensions would be nearly double those of the Woolworth Building in every direction. And the Eiffel Tower, reaching up 1,000 feet toward the sky would be lost in a tower made of a year's bags of coffee. Such a tower would stand 1,425 feet high on a base area of 230 feet square, the size of the Eiffel's first floor.
CHAPTER XXII THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF COFFEEA statistical study of world production of coffee by countries—Per capita figures of the leading consuming countries—Coffee-consumption figures compared with tea-consumption figures in the United States and the United Kingdom—Three centuries of coffee trading—Coffee drinking in the United States, past and present—Reviewing the 1921 trade in the United States
The world's yearly production of coffee is on the average considerably more than one million tons. If this were all made up into the refreshing drink we get at our breakfast tables, there would be enough to supply every inhabitant of the earth with some sixty cups a year, representing a total of more than ninety billion cups. In terms of pounds the annual world output amounts to about two and a quarter billions—an amount so large that if it were done up in the familiar one-pound paper packages; and if these packages were laid end to end in a row; they would form a line long enough to reach to the moon. If this average yearly production were left in the sacks in which the coffee is shipped, the total of 17,500,000 would be enough to form a broad six-foot pavement reaching entirely across the United States, upon which a man could walk steadily for more than five months at the rate of twenty miles a day. This vast amount of coffee comes very largely from the western hemisphere; and about three-fourths of it, from a single country. The production, shipment, and preparation of this coffee, directly and indirectly support millions of workers; and many countries are entirely dependent on it for their prosperity and economic well-being.
During the crop year that ended June 30, 1921, this million-ton average was considerably exceeded, though it did not approach the record yield of all time in the crop year 1906–07, when the total amounted to almost 24,000,000 sacks; or, in round numbers, 3,000,000,000 pounds.
As indicated by the Statistical Record table, on page 274, Brazil produces more than all the rest of the world put together. Coffee growing, however, is general throughout tropical countries, and in most of them constitutes one of the leading industries. Yet in most cases, the actual production of these countries can only be estimated, as accurate figures, showing the exact output, are seldom kept. But the contribution which each country makes to the total world traffic in coffee can be determined by its export figures, which are obtainable in reasonably accurate and up-to-date form. The table on page 276 gives the coffee export figures, in pounds, for practically every country that produces coffee for sale outside its own borders. Figures are given for the latest available year, and also for the average of the last five years for which statistics are to be obtained. The figures are taken from official statistics, from the publications of the International Institute of Agriculture of Rome, and from other authoritative sources.
(July 1 to June 30) Rio and
Santos
(Bags)[I] Other
Countries
(Bags) Total
(Bags) Europe
(Bags) United
States
(Bags) Total
(Bags) Visible
Supply
July 1.
(Bags) Quotations,
Rio No. 7
New York,
July 1. 1883–84 5,047,000 4,526,000 9,573,000 6,774,000 2,635,000 9,409,000 1884–85 6,206,000 4,004,000 10,210,000 7,388,000 3,169,000 10,557,000 5,398,000 81⁄4 1885–86 5,565,000 3,505,000 9,070,000 7,198,000 2,938,000 10,136,000 5,051,000 71⁄8 1886–87 6,078,000 4,106,000 10,184,000 7,363,000 2,672,000 10,035,000 3,985,000 81⁄4 1887–88 3,033,000 3,214,000 6,247,000 5,888,000 2,164,000 8,052,000 4,134,000 167⁄8 1888–89 6,827,000 3,672,000 10,499,000 6,589,000 2,659,000 9,249,000 2,329,000 131⁄2 1889–90 4,260,000 3,965,000 8,225,000 6,716,000 2,704,000 9,420,000 3,579,000 141⁄2 1890–91 5,358,000 2,886,000 8,244,000 6,046,000 2,673,000 8,719,000 2,384,000 171⁄2 1891–92 7,397,000 4,453,000 11,850,000 6,392,000 4,412,000 10,804,000 1,909,000 173⁄8 1892–93 6,203,000 4,887,000 11,090,000 6,457,000 4,389,000 10,945,000 2,955,000 177⁄8 1893–94 4,309,000 5,307,000 9,616,000 6,272,000 4,298,000 10,570,000 3,100,000 165⁄8 1894–95 6,695,000 5,069,000 11,764,000 6,816,000 4,396,000 11,212,000 2,146,000 161⁄2 1895–96 5,476,000 4,901,000 10,377,000 6,803,000 4,339,000 11,142,000 3,115,000 153⁄4 1896–97 8,680,000 5,238,000 13,918,000 7,155,000 5,080,000 12,244,000 2,588,000 13 1897–98 10,462,000 5,596,000 16,058,000 8,535,000 6,036,000 14,571,000 3,975,000 73⁄8 1898–99 8,771,000 4,985,000 13,756,000 7,798,000 5,682,000 13,480,000 5,435,000 61⁄4 1899–00 8,959,000 4,842,000 13,801,000 8,937,000 6,035,000 14,972,000 6,200,000 61⁄8 1900–01 10,927,000 4,173,000 15,100,000 8,486,000 5,843,000 14,329,000 5,840,000 815⁄16 1901–02 15,439,000 4,296,000 19,735,000 8,853,000 6,663,000 15,516,000 6,867,000 6 1902–03 12,324,000 4,340,000 16,664,000 9,118,000 6,847,000 15,966,000 11,261,000 51⁄4 1903–04 10,408,000 5,575,000 15,983,000 9,280,000 6,853,000 16,133,000 11,900,000 53⁄16 1904–05 9,968,000 4,480,000 14,448,000 9,475,000 6,687,000 16,163,000 12,361,000 71⁄8 1905–06 10,227,000 4,565,000 14,792,000 9,934,000 6,806,000 16,741,000 11,265,000 73⁄4 1906–07 19,654,000 4,160,000 23,814,000 10,502,000 7,042,000 17,544,000 9,636,000 715⁄16 1907–08 10,283,000 4,551,000 14,834,000 10,481,000 7,043,000 17,525,000 16,400,000 63⁄8 1908–09 12,419,000 4,499,000 16,918,000 11,129,000 7,519,000 18,649,000 14,126,000 61⁄4 1909–10 14,944,000 4,181,000 19,125,000 10,811,000 7,287,000 18,098,000 12,841,000 73⁄4 1910–11 10,548,000 3,976,000 14,524,000 10,492,000 7,015,000 17,507,000 13,719,000 83⁄8 1911–12 12,491,000 4,918,000 17,409,000 10,712,000 6,762,000 17,474,000 11,070,000 131⁄8 1912–13 11,458,000 4,915,000 16,373,000 10,144,000 6,675,000 16,820,000 11,048,000 143⁄4 1913–14 13,816,000 5,796,000 19,612,000 11,027,000 7,545,000 18,573,000 10,285,000 95⁄8 1914–15 12,867,000 5,019,000 17,886,000 13,368,000 8,010,000 21,378,000 11,302,000 83⁄4 1915–16 14,992,000 4,764,000 19,756,000 11,050,000 8,834,000 19,884,000 7,523,000 71⁄2 1916–17 12,112,000 4,579,000 16,691,000 5,171,000 9,046,000 14,217,000 7,328,000 91⁄8 1917–18 15,127,000 3,720,000 18,847,000 6,209,000 8,624,000 14,833,000 7,793,000 91⁄2 1918–19 9,140,000 4,500,000 13,640,000 6,073,000 8,994,000 15,067,000 8,783,000 81⁄2 1919–20 6,700,000 8,463,000 15,163,000 7,047,000 9,683,000 16,730,000 7,173,000 221⁄4 1920–21 13,816,000 6,467,000 20,283,000 6,397,000 9,701,000 16,099,000 6,909,000 131⁄4
[I] 1 Bag=132.27 lbs.
The statistical sharks talk of the 17,566,000 bags, or 2,318,712,000 pounds of coffee that the world drinks every year; but how many really appreciate what those huge figures mean? For instance, computing 40 cups of beverage to the pound, there are more than 90,000,000,000 cups drunk annually, or enough to fill a gigantic cup 4,000 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep, on which the "Majestic," the world's largest ship, would appear floating approximately as shown in the drawing.
For the most part, these figures of exportation are the only ones available to indicate the actual coffee production in the countries named. The following additional data, however, will serve to show the extent to which the coffee-raising industry has developed in most of these countries, and in a few places of minor importance not named in the table:
Brazil. The coffee industry of Brazil, which has furnished seventy percent of the world's coffee during the last ten years, has developed in a century and a half. Brazilian soil first made the acquaintance of the coffee plant at Pará in 1723. A small export trade to Europe had developed by 1770, the year when the first plantation was established in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and from which the country's great industry really dates. Development at first was apparently slow, as no exports are recorded until the beginning of the nineteenth century; so that the history of Brazil's coffee trade is a matter entirely of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Once started, however, the new line of export made rapid progress. In 1800, the amount of coffee exported was 1720 pounds, contained in thirteen bags. Twenty years later, 12,896,000 pounds were shipped, the number of bags being 97,498. Ten years later, in 1830, this amount had increased to 64,051,000 pounds; and in 1840, to 137,300,000 pounds. In 1852–53, the receipts for shipment at the ports were double that amount, 284,592,000 pounds; in 1860–61 they were 420,420,000 pounds; in 1870–71 they had increased to 427,416,000 pounds; in 1880–81 they were 764,945,000 pounds; in 1890–91, 739,654,000 pounds; and at the beginning of this century, 1900–01, they were 1,504,424,000 pounds, having passed the one billion-pound mark in 1896–97. The highest point of coffee receipts in the country's history was reached in 1906–07 with 2,699,644,694 pounds; and since that year, the amount has staid at about one and one-half billion pounds. Further expansion in the last fifteen years has been closely regulated to prevent overproduction.
Pounds South America: Brazil 1920 1,524,382,650 1,469,949,180 Colombia 1920 190,961,953[c] 172,862,121 Venezuela 1920 73,726,632 110,174,946 Guiana, Br. 1917 267,344 257,152 Guiana, Fr. 1918 1,100 970 Guiana, D. 1918 3,856 923,644[d] Ecuador 1919 3,729,413 5,843,033 Peru 1919 370,655 455,212 Central America: Salvador 1920 82,864,668 78,953,339 Nicaragua 1920 15,345,398 23,243,865 Costa Rica 1921[a] 29,401,683 28,667,262 Guatemala 1920 94,205,569 88,213,080
Comments (0)